Appendix: Name Guide

Name Guide
Names, Honorifics, & Titles

 

Courtesy Names

A courtesy name is given to an individual when they come of age. Traditionally, this was at the age of twenty during one’s crowning ceremony, but it can also be presented when an elder or teacher deems the recipient worthy. Generally a male-only tradition, there is historical precedent for women adopting a courtesy name after marriage. Courtesy names were a tradition reserved for the upper class.

It was considered disrespectful for one’s peers of the same generation to address someone by their birth name, especially in formal or written communication. Use of one’s birth name was reserved for only elders, close friends, and spouses.

This practice is no longer used in modern China but is commonly seen in wuxia and xianxia media; as such, many characters have more than one name. Its implementation in novels is irregular and is often treated malleably for the sake of storytelling.

It was a tradition throughout some parts of Chinese history for all children of a family within a certain generation to have given names with the same first or last character. This “generation name” may be taken from a certain poem, with successive generations using successive characters from the poem. In Scum Villain, this tradition is used to give the peak lords their courtesy names, so all peak lords of Shen Qingqiu’s generation have courtesy names starting with Qing.

 

Diminutives and Nicknames

XIAO-: A diminutive meaning “little.” Always a prefix.

EXAMPLE: Xiao-shimei (the nickname Ming Fan uses for Ning Yingying)

DA-: A prefix meaning “eldest.”

EXAMPLE: Da-shixiong (how Ning Yingying addresses Ming Fan)

-ER: A word for “son” or “child.” Added to a name, it expresses affection. Similar to calling someone “Little” or “Sonny.” Always a suffix. 

EXAMPLE: Ling-er (how Sha Hualing refers to herself when she is trying to be cute)

A-: Friendly diminutive. Always a prefix. Usually for monosyllabic names, or one syllable out of a two-syllable name.

EXAMPLE: A-Luo (the nickname Ning Yingying uses for Luo Binghe)

 

Formal

-JUN: A suffix meaning “lord.”

-XIANSHENG: A respectful suffix with several uses, including for someone with a great deal of expertise in their profession or a teacher.

 

Cultivation and Martial Arts

ZHANGMEN: Leader of a cultivation/martial arts sect.

SHIZUN: Teacher/master. For one’s master in one’s own sect. Gender neutral. Literal meaning is “honored/venerable master” and is a more respectful address.

SHIFU: Teacher/master. For one’s master in one’s own sect.

Gender neutral. Mostly interchangeable with Shizun.

SHINIANG: The wife of a shifu/shizun. 

SHIXIONG: Older martial brother. For senior male members of one’s own sect. 

SHIJIE: Older martial sister. For senior female members of one’s own sect. 

SHIDI: Younger martial brother. For junior male members of one’s own sect.

SHIMEI: Younger martial sister. For junior female members of one’s own sect.

SHISHU: The younger martial sibling of one’s master. Can be male or female.

SHIBO: The older martial sibling of one’s master. Can be male or female.

SHIZHI: The disciple of one’s martial sibling.